Sunday, August 23, 2009

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Thursday, August 20, 2009

from the August 13, 2009 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0813/p09s01-coop.html

The real US healthcare issue: compassion deficiency

The fact that many of us do not feel any urgency to revamp a system that leaves millions of our sick without care is appalling.

By Gordon Marino

Northfield, Minn.

During the height of the banking and Wall Street meltdowns, Americans seemed to love clucking about corporate greed. As far as most of us were concerned, the moral debacle was purely the fault of Wall Street, not Main Street.

Yet you don't need a graduate degree to see that the character crisis is not restricted to those summering on Nantucket.

The healthcare debate has revealed that Americans suffer from a compassion deficiency. Many of us would prefer that our fellow citizens go without medical care rather than make even the slightest of sacrifices.

Over the summer, I have heard many groans along the lines of, "I don't want to pay for someone else's visits to the doctor." When pressed, some will retreat to concerns about the degradation of care. But there are plenty who will stick with, "I just don't feel as though I should have to foot someone else's medical bills."

While President Obama insists that changes in our medical system will not require middle-class tax hikes, it is plain that many fear reform will cost them. Apparently, there are a lot of folks who would choose to have young mothers with cancer go without chemotherapy, instead of giving up a bit of that disposable income that is our badge of freedom and individualism.

Those of us who abide below the money mountaintop are acquainted with hardworking people who can't afford some critical medical treatment. Though we are inured to them, I could easily reel off 10 horror stories, including a couple quite close to home.

I reside in a small town and every week there is some kind of raffle or spaghetti dinner to scrounge together the funds to meet the medical expenses of a child with leukemia or a teenager with a brain tumor. We're trying to pay for brain surgery with bake sales!

Back in the late 1980s, I lived in Denmark, where there is superb universal coverage. The rich aside, it is hard to know how anyone could come to the conclusion that Americans are better served by their doctors than the Scandinavians or, for that matter, anyone else in Western Europe. Despite widespread illusions, life expectancy (we rank 42nd) and infant mortality rates (we rank 29th) attest that our healthcare system is not even a contender for the best.

But the issue isn't about the comparative quality of care; rather it's about what we will and will not put up with as a society. As much as the Danes moan about taxes, not many of them would prefer having extra euros over the peace of mind that comes with knowing that they don't have to think of their less fortunate but sick countryman going without medical treatment.

The fact that a significant number of Americans do not feel any urgency to revamp a system that leaves millions of our sick without care is symptomatic of the fact that we must be suffering from a hardening of more than our arteries.

There was a time when highbrows were repulsed by the fact that Americans were not appalled by the levels of violence in films. For a country that loves to moralize, we ought to acknowledge that what does or does not repulse reveals a lot about who we are.

The pandemic lack of compassion for the un- and under-insured is really not that distant from the narcissistic indifference of the avaricious CEOs that we love to sneer at. Anyone who values honesty will have to admit that many of us are not appalled by children dying for lack of medical treatment.

We don't like it, we wish that it could be otherwise, but it doesn't exactly make us sick. And that is appalling.

Gordon Marino is a professor of philosophy at St. Olaf College. His book, "Ethics: The Essential Writings," will be published in the spring of 2010.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

PT-1001 / Single-sided, 45rpm record with etched backRelease Date: September 15, 2009 In 2008 the First Sounds collaborative corrected the history of recorded sound when it identified—and played back—a recording of the human voice inscribed on paper, in Paris, 17 years before Thomas Edison invented the phonograph. Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville entrusted this and other documents with the Institute of France’s Academy of Sciences in the summer of 1861. With this deposit he sought to establish the priority of his sound-inscribing invention, the phonautograph. He included several phonautograms made in 1860 of vocal scales, songs, and recitations.

Example “No. 5”—Au Clair de la Lune from April 9th 1860—is the earliest dated sound recording in the deposit. Scott prepared its recording surface by wrapping a sheet of paper around a cylinder which he rotated over a smoking lantern to cover with soot. He recorded with two styli—one driven by the vibrations of a tuning fork, the other driven by a membrane vibrating in sympathy with his voice. He removed the paper from the cylinder and immersed it in an alcohol-based fixative.

Scott made this recording to be seen, not heard. He sang purposely into his instrument to reveal the shape of sounds and the frequency of his notes. In listening to Au Clair we eavesdrop not on a musical performance, but on a scientific experiment—wafting imperfectly through a window in time.

Get ready: That famous red bow tie, too-tight gray suit and unmistakable voice are back.

Pee-wee Herman, the '80s television man-child icon, is returning to the spotlight. "The Pee-wee Herman Show," starring Paul Reubens, will have a limited engagement run from Nov. 19 to 29 at the Music Box @ Fonda in Hollywood.

"I've put part of him away for a long time but part of him has always been here with me," the soft-spoken actor said in an interview today. "I think it will be like riding a bike -- which is not a bad analogy for Pee-wee, by the way."

The new stage production is a "re-imagined" version of Herman's past theatrical outings, according to promoters. The original version of the show debuted at the Groundlings Theatre in 1981 before playing at L.A.'s Roxy Theatre for five months. The production then went on a 22-city tour that included New York's Carnegie Hall.

The new production will feature Pee-wee regulars, including Miss Yvonne, Mailman Mike, Cowboy Curtis and Jambi the Genie. Audiences can also count on appearances by Pee-wee's talking chair, Chairry, and his friend Pterri, the pterodactyl.

Previews for the show begin at the Music Box on Nov. 8 and tickets go on sale Tuesday. Jared Geller and David J. Foster are producing the show.

Reubens, whose run-ins with the law over the years eclipsed his acting achievements, has branched out into serious films over the years, including supporting roles in "Blow" and the upcoming "Nailed" and "Life During Wartime."

Check back later on Culture Monster for more about Pee-wee's return to the stage.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Saturday, August 1, 2009

I first heard POLVO when I was living in France in 92, and they have stayed a consistent favorite ever since, surviving the passing of the 90's despite an almost decade long hiatus, and apparently ready for their comeback. Reformed, new album next month, playing in LA on October 10th. They were the last show I ever saw at CBGB'sTheir first record, COR CRANE SECRET is a must.